#opticalillusions are right up the alley for this #opticaljedi
Bonus points for it coming from the @exploratorium in #sanfrancisco where I learned my love for optics
#Repost @exploratorium with @get_repost
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Just because you can see this spring, that doesn’t mean it’s there.
It’s actually hanging upside down on the other side of the wall. The spring you see is an illusion created by a concave spherical mirror. Light rays spreading out from a point on the spring reflect off the mirror so that they come back together at a point in space, creating a real image point from the spring. The rays continue on through that point until they reach the eyes, which bring the rays together and create an image of the spring on the retina. Since the eyes and brain can’t tell the difference between a retinal image of the reflected bulb and a retinal image of the actual bulb, you think you’re looking at the real thing.
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This video was created in collaboration with @WIRED featuring Touch the Spring, an Exploratorium exhibit in San Francisco. Go to their page for more from the worlds of science, tech, and design. Want to try this experiment yourself? Head to https://www.exploratorium.edu/snacks for science activities that are hands-on, teacher-tested, and that use cheap, available materials.
